Let’s get right into the hands o’ interest (not to be confused with the Links o’ Interest).
With 9-10, I limp as the big blind. The flop is 7-8-J giving me the nut straight. I check. I call a moderate sized bet. The turn is a Q. I check. He bets, I go all in. He calls with two pair (Q-7) and I double up. The river was 6, giving me a 7-card straight.
I gave a lot of that back in the next half-hour. I limped into a lot of pots with suited connecters, low pairs, K-6 in the small blind, hands like that. None of them connected. I think I was still right to play them each time, but after a while I stopped just to keep my stack at strength.
Blinds at 100-200. I’m dealt J-J in the big blind. There are three people in the pot. I want them out, I bet 4x at 800. Two of them call. The flop is K-x-x. Urgh. I feel like I have to bet again to see if anyone has a king. I throw another 800 in. The player to my left goes all-in, another 2100 to me. I grudgingly fold. Interestingly, no one can understand what I had to fold for a good 30 seconds, and then one of the players suddenly realizes, “High pocket pair, but below kings? Queens or jacks?” Guessing people’s hands is a good exercise.
We are now down to four-handed. The top three finish in the money. One player has an enormous stack, the rest of us are all fairly even. I get K-A with first action. I raise the 200-400 blinds to 1000. The other non-blind calls and both blinds fold. The flop is Q-x-x. I bet another 1000. He goes all in, another 3200 to me. This is a tough situation. I don’t have a made hand, plenty of hands beat me. If I lose I am essentially out (I have 3300) and finish just out of the money. He called me pre-flop, he probably has something.
And yet… I have a lot of outs. And this is the same guy who went all in with my J-J hand earlier. He pulled a similar move later. Maybe he just figures that he push me around with overbets post-flop. Maybe he thinks I am unwilling to risk my full stack at the bubble. Something doesn’t feel right. I don’t have a true tell I can point to, but something about his body language feels wrong. I call. He has A-10. My A-K holds up and I double up. I’m proud of that play. It was a gutsy call.
The third player falls soon after and I go to heads up. I am down 7-1 or so. The very first hand I get A-2. My all-in is called and he turns over A-7. I’m knocked out for a second place finish.
Tonight: $58
Running Total: $587